"Only together can we overcome challenges” Supporting people with Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia in Wales

The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK has awarded nearly £100,000 Friends of Cymru Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia CIC to provide tailored and sensitive support the families they work with.

Volunteers run the support group, which has been going for 22 years, but the need for help from the group has increased. During the pandemic people with Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia were more vulnerable to COVID-19 than the general population and there is both stigma and a lack of understanding about the condition. They have successfully applied for a £99,916 National Lottery grant. Friends of Cymru Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia CIC will work directly with people who have the condition, helping explain how to access welfare entitlements, offering support for any housing issues and children's schooling. The group will also explain and help people access their health care rights including while they are in hospital.

Faith Walker, Executive Director of the group expressed the importance of the support saying:

"Only together can we overcome the challenges and unite to raise the awareness of Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia in Wales"

John Rose, Director Wales for The National Lottery Community Fund added:

“The volunteers who run this project have responded to the growing needs in the community of people with this little understood condition. They started with a smaller grant to pilot the changes they wanted to make and now they have successfully applied for nearly £100,000 to continue strengthening their organisation. Thanks to National Lottery players more than £30 million a week is raised for good causes across the UK, last year we gave grants to more than 7,500 projects to support people’s health and wellbeing.”

This is just one of the 32 projects sharing a total of £718,138 awarded in grants in December. You can find out more about the others by downloading a list on a word document here.

To find information on applying to The National Lottery Community Fund for funding to help your community thrive, visit tnlcommunityfund.org.uk or call 0300 123 0735.